Installing Windows on AMD RAID Array --> Unsigned Drivers WTF?!

[newtekie1]

Ok, I'm officially frustrated. It is 3:30PM on Thanksgiving Eve, and I can't leave work until I have this machine running...

System Specs:

AMD Phenom II 960T(Stock)
8GB Corsair DDR3-1600(2x4GB @ 1333MHz)
ASUS M5A99X Evo(990X+SB950)
2x WD Blue 500GB Hard Drives(RAID1 Array)
eVGA 9600GSO
Corsair CX430w PSU

The Problem:

Simple, I can't install Windows 7 on the RAID Array. It asks me for the driver, I point to the folder on the USB Stick containing the latest driver downloaded from ASUS's site(tried AMD's driver too), it thinks about it for a few seconds, then pops up with a Window complaining that I can't use Unsigned drivers with Windows 7 64-bit and asks for me to load a signed driver.

Is this seriously an issue of AMD being so bad at driver development that they don't even get their RAID drivers signed, preventing people from installing Windows on RAID arrays? I know this can't be the case, I know someone has to have installed Windows on an AMD RAID array before!

[dark2099]

Have you tried looking for and older version of the driver or contacting ASUS' support? Or if you have the original DVD for the motherboard? Seems odd that Windows will install just fine on a RAID Array on an Intel board just fine and not AMD.

[3870x2]

This sounds promising:

Copy your unsigned driver to USB stick or other media (you will probably need only one .inf and a .sys file) 
 Start Windows 7 setup. 
 At this point, Do Not Select 'Install' as your RAID controller will not be detected if it's not supported by Win7 
 Click 'Repair'. 
 Wait for the pseudo-scanner to finish. 
 Click load driver. 
 Point to your unsigned driver (the .inf file) you previously copied to USB stick or other media. 
 Wait again for the pseudo-scanner to finish. 
 Click the 'x' in the corner to close the repair mode. 
 Click 'Install' to start the installation. 
 Now your RAID controller and RAID Drives will be detected and there will be no warning of unsigned drivers.

I hope this gets you home. I'm still at work also, but this is due to some Kaspersky problems the latest windows update screwed up.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by dark2099

Have you tried looking for and older version of the driver or contacting ASUS' support? Or if you have the original DVD for the motherboard? Seems odd that Windows will install just fine on a RAID Array on an Intel board just fine and not AMD.

I tried the driver off the CD and I get the same message about it being Unsigned.

And I think Intel RAID works because they have used the same basic RAID controller design for years, AMD has updated theirs recently so there aren't build in drivers for SB950.

Originally Posted by 3870x2

This sounds promising:

Copy your unsigned driver to USB stick or other media (you will probably need only one .inf and a .sys file) 
 Start Windows 7 setup. 
 At this point, Do Not Select 'Install' as your RAID controller will not be detected if it's not supported by Win7 
 Click 'Repair'. 
 Wait for the pseudo-scanner to finish. 
 Click load driver. 
 Point to your unsigned driver (the .inf file) you previously copied to USB stick or other media. 
 Wait again for the pseudo-scanner to finish. 
 Click the 'x' in the corner to close the repair mode. 
 Click 'Install' to start the installation. 
 Now your RAID controller and RAID Drives will be detected and there will be no warning of unsigned drivers.

I hope this gets you home. I'm still at work also, but this is due to some Kaspersky problems the latest windows update screwed up.

I tried that, it tells the driver folder doesn't contain information about my hardware. But when I point to the same files during the normal setup it does detect that the folder contains drivers for the RAID controller.

[Steevo]

and you have the drives configured as RAID in the BIOS?

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD..._EVO/#download

You are downloading and extracting the drivers, then plugging the USB stick into a USB 2.0 port, make sure its USB 2.0 It will not install it.

[Drone]

You can add drivers in DVD and use forceunsigned command. Then it will install.

[newtekie1]

I got it working, I reburnt the Windows 7 DVD and it worked for some reason.

I guess there must have been a scratch on the old disc or something that was preventing something from loading and causing the issue...IDK...I'm just happy it is working!

[3870x2]

nice! go home!

[Super XP]

I had the exact time same issue. Make sure you have the right driver. After hours of messing around It took the driver that it was rejecting. Not sure if this is an AMD driver issue, but I don't plan on installing Win7 on Raid 0 again.

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

nice! go home!

I will as soon as I get it to the point that I can remote into it and finish installing all the software over the holiday so I can be ready for install at the clients Monday morning.

[Steevo]

I keep clean archives of all Operating systems I use.

I had an issues on the last two where the USB 3.0 drivers wouldn't load as I was using a USB 3.0 port and once the3 handoff was attempted it just stopped.

[vawrvawerawe]

If you MUST install an unsigned driver, that OK, you can do it. Let me tell you how:

DSEO - Digital Signature Enforcement Overrider - v.13b

WARNING! Don't use this unless you know what you're doing. Otherwise you could make your computer vulnerable.
But if you know what you're doing, then this tool is invaluable!